


Hold Back the River

by ByTheAngell (SomeLittleInfamy)



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: F/M, POV Maia Roberts, mermaid curse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:26:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21842140
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SomeLittleInfamy/pseuds/ByTheAngell
Summary: Maia's research turns up more than the usual analysis, and she's left suffering the consequences of something she doesn't fully understand. Thankfully, she doesn't have to figure it out alone.
Relationships: Simon Lewis/Maia Roberts
Comments: 17
Kudos: 18
Collections: SHBingo





	Hold Back the River

There’s something to be said about academic curiosity, Maia thinks, but this sure as hell isn’t it. 

There’s a certain irony to the predicament she finds herself in at the lab, partially submerged in one of the specimen tanks wondering how long until an overnight janitor finds her... or worse, if she’ll be stuck like this until morning when her colleagues will discover her, tail and all. She hates the ocean itself, never participating in the snorkeling outings for new specimens to study and instead choosing to stay behind in the lab to research because it’s safer. 

Maia had no idea just how wrong she could be about that. 

She also had no idea what the marking on the coral she picked up were until it was too late. Some sort of language, perhaps? Or symbols equating to a language? The moment she brushed her fingers along them and watched them begin to glow she knew something was wrong. She didn’t realize exactly what was happening until it was almost too late, barely managing to throw herself into the shallow tank before the tail was fully formed. 

She still wears her black shirt and lab coat, which are soaked and clinging awkwardly to her scales. 

Scales. She has  _ scales _ . Never mind the embarrassment of being caught in this scenario - they’re going to cart her off to some government research facility and study her. What if she never sees her friends again? 

The sound of a door shutting down the hall reaches her and Maia moves as far to the back of the tank as she can, not that it does much good through the clear water. She waits, heartbeat racing, until she hears a familiar voice. 

“Maia?” 

Simon. It isn't some stranger, it's Simon! She has no idea what he’s doing here at 1 am but she’s never been more relieved to hear his voice. 

“Maia, are you here? I tried to call but it went to voicemail, and you weren’t answering your texts. Sorry if you’re ignoring me on purpose, I know you hate it when I bug you at work but I got worried when you never came home and-” 

“Simon,” Maia says, quietly. “Please don’t freak out.” 

She watches him turn towards the sound of her voice, confused. “Why would I frea-” he starts, but stops abruptly as he sees her.  _ All _ of her. “Okay. Yeah. This is fine. Totally not freaking out. Why would I freak out over my girlfriend being a  _ freaking mermaid _ ?” 

“Si! Please,” Maia begs. “I’m not a- at least I wasn’t before tonight. I touched some stupid coral and it started glowing and now… shit, I’m a fucking mermaid.” She's flustered, something that's rare for her, and nearly on the brink of tears having to admit it out loud. 

“Can you control it?” Simon asks, trying to be helpful. She knows he's only trying to understand, which is unfortunate since _she_ doesn't even understand to explain it to him. 

“I don’t know,” she admits. 

“Is it permanent?”    


“ _ I don’t know _ ,” Maia snaps, only feeling a little bad at the way Simon cringes. For some reason she could keep a cool head while she was alone, but if Simon’s here then it’s just a matter of time before someone else shows up. And then… she is a scientist, after all. She knows what happens to new species, or rare specimens. “Simon, I’m scared.” 

“Yeah. I know, Maia. But it’s going to be alright, okay? Just… I”ll be right back,” Simon says, turning to leave the room. 

“Simon, wait!” Maia calls out, not proud of the pleading tone in her voice. 

“I can’t help you if I stay here. I’ll be right back, I promise,” Simon says, coming right up to the tank and reaching out to take her hand in his own. And then, without hesitation, he brings one of his hands up to cup the side of her face before kissing her, gentle and reassuring. Maia eases under the familiar touch. 

“Okay,” she agrees, taking a deep breath to steady herself as she watches Simon leave the room, counting the seconds until he returns. 

When he does it’s with a large trash can on wheels and a smaller bucket. 

“What are you doing?” She asks, watching him put the bucket into the tank and start to fill the larger trash can. 

“Getting you home. We can figure out the rest from there,” Simon says matter-of-factly. “I watched enough movies to know we can’t risk moving you without water in case you, I dunno, dry up or something.” 

“Oh. Yeah, that makes sense,” she agrees, since she jumped into the tank instinctively without really thinking about  _ why _ she was doing it. “And then what?” 

Simon shrugs and does his best not to look worried. “I don’t know. But we’ll figure it out together.” Another promise, this time one she doesn’t question. 

“Okay,” she agrees instead, doing her best not to overthink things which is nearly impossible just then. Her eyes keep darting to the doors, expecting people to burst in at any moment to take her away, but instead the next noise she hears is Simon saying he’s done and offering a hand to lift her into the trash can. 

“Your chariot awaits,” he says with a small, anxious smile, and Maia laughs in spite of everything. It’s a special skill Simon has, the ability to always make her feel at ease no matter what. Even here, even now. 

“Thank you,” she says quietly. “For coming back, and for caring enough to show up at all. If something happens-” 

“Hey, none of that,” Simon silences her quickly. "Did you really think I'd leave you like that?" He asks as he starts to push her away from the tank. Maia doesn't know what to say to that. Of course she should've known better than to think he would, but... well, this is a lot. She isn't even sure she can deal with it, and it's happening to her. 

“Wait!” she says, and points towards the table. Once Simon pushes her close enough she reaches out, hesitates just a moment with her hands hovering over the coral, and then takes a deep breath and picks it up. It doesn’t do anything this time around and she exhales. “Alright, now we can go." 

They make it outside and Maia eyes Simon’s van, graffiti and all, and laughs. Simon looks at her like she might be finally starting to lose it but all she says is, “Man, I’m really glad you didn’t let me talk you into selling the van when the band broke up.” 

Simon looks from her to the van and then laughs as well. 

Things are far from alright, but for the first time since it happened Maia doesn’t feel completely hopeless. 

It’s a start. 

**Author's Note:**

> (Find me on [Tumblr](http://bytheangell.tumblr.com) and also on [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/By_The_Angell)! <3 )


End file.
